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MONTPELIER — The state Legislature managed Tuesday to do what no legislature has done in Gov. Jim Douglas’ seven years in office, what no legislature has done in 19 years in Vermont, what has been done only seven times in state history.

The Legislature overrode the governor’s veto of a same-sex marriage bill.

Not only did that action propel Vermont into the national spotlight by making it the first state to legalize same-sex marriage without a court order, it raised new questions about politics here at home.

Is there a new sheriff in town? Does the 2009 Legislature wield new power over the governor? Is this a sign of first-year House Speaker Shap Smith’s ability to marshal his forces?

Don’t jump to conclusions, warn many, including Smith.

“I don’t think you can take anything from that veto override,” Smith said Wednesday. “I think yesterday’s vote was a different dynamic.”

Few in the Statehouse expect Smith to see Tuesday’s vote as an indication that he can sail any piece of legislation through on an override. That is neither his style, nor could he presume it would succeed.

“I think other veto overrides will be more difficult,” said Rep. David Zuckerman, a Burlington Progressive. “Every single issue is different.”

Douglas spokesman Dennise Casey agreed. “The issue of gay marriage is deeply personal and an emotionally charged and divisive one,” she said. “It’s a very different issue than a tax issue. Lawmakers will handle those differently.”

On the same-sex marriage bill, Douglas did not lobby legislators to back his veto, as he has on vetoes of other bills. That paved an easier path for six House Republicans who voted for the bill to also back the override.

House Minority Leader Patti Komline, R-Dorset, was one of them. The governor never pressured her to vote otherwise, she said. On money-related issues, though, she and the other Republicans will willingly join him, she said. When a tax bill reaches the House floor next week, she said, they are ready to stand together in opposition. “We’re going to be organized.”

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First big test

Smith was not the only one behind the push that led the House and Senate to null Douglas’ veto, but as a freshman speaker who was elected by his peers in January, he was the new kid on the block, facing his first big test. He inherited from former Speaker Gaye Symington a chamber that came close in recent years to overriding vetoes but had never squeezed out the last votes needed.

Smith deserves credit for taking on the volatile same-sex marriage legislation, said Rep. Mark Larson, D-Burlington, who competed against Smith for the speaker’s position and was also a strong supporter of same-sex marriage.

“It was a big risk,” Larson said. “It was certainly a test and one that he passed.”

It was close, though, so much so that Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, delayed action on the veto override in the Senate by nearly an hour Tuesday morning until he received a signal from Smith that the House had the votes it needed.

“I was not intending to vote in the Senate until Shap told me he had the votes in the House,” said Shumlin, whose 23-7 Democratic majority in the Senate made an override easier there.

Smith and his leadership team needed to win over at least three Democrats who voted against the same-sex marriage legislation and persuade them to vote for the override. There were times, Smith said, when he didn’t think he’d make it, but he didn’t give up. Smith said he used neither sticks nor carrots, but instead talked to legislators about the importance of letting the majority rule. That, colleagues said, is Smith’s style.

“He knows how to listen to people. He knows how to get people where they need to be,” said Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, a close ally of Smith who backed his candidacy for speaker. “He’s like a really good coach. He can ask people to give more than they would have. He can be firm with people.”

Komline wasn’t on the receiving end of Smith’s lobbying on the same-sex marriage bill, but she said he’s a willing listener. “He looks for compromise,” she said.

Rep. Joe Krawczyk, R-Bennington, said Smith is the most supportive speaker he has worked with in seven years in the Legislature. When Krawczyk has had concerns with a bill, Smith has allowed lawmakers to slow the process down and address the concerns, even if it meant missing a deadline.

Tuesday’s veto override is no indication that Smith will seize that path to push through other bills, Krawczyk said. “Unless I mis-guess, he won’t try to do it.”

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More tests coming

Smith will have a chance to show whether that’s true as the legislative session heads into its final month. Several key bills will provide further tests of his leadership skills.

First, there’s the tax bill, which includes an income tax increase that Douglas has denounced. The 2010 budget bill that passed the House last week is also on a collision course with the governor. A Vermont Yankee decommissioning bill promises to be another flashpoint.

There were signs Wednesday that all sides might try to avoid all-out collisions on such issues. The House delayed action on a mid-year budget adjustment bill while legislators try to work out differences with the Douglas administration on transportation funding and an energy-efficiency program.

“It’s certainly encouraging that the speaker is interested in working out the potential problems,” Casey said.

“We’re ultimately going to have to reach a resolution with the governor on taxes and the budget,” Smith said. “We’re talking to each other.”

Shumlin agreed that the issues must be sorted out not through collision but cooperation. “This session will only end successfully if we work together,” he said.

Shumlin suggested, however, that Tuesday’s veto override had an impact — Smith proved he could deliver the votes when it mattered most. “That’s a new dynamic,” Shumlin said.

“I’m sure it hasn’t escaped the governor’s attention that both the House and the Senate have leaders that can override vetoes if they work at it,” he said.